Leave a Trail (Signal Bend #7)(99)

She didn’t. She knew she should. But instead of unlinking her ankles and letting him pull out of her, to release on the sheet, her muscles constricted and held him more firmly than she’d known that she could.

“Adri—“ She flexed her hips, bringing him deep, and he groaned in defeat. “Oh, oh, f*ck. Fuck. Oh, God.” He tensed and spasmed.

She felt him. She felt him come inside her. She felt it. She loved it. She’d just done something insanely reckless. And she loved it.

When he finally relaxed, he tried to pull out again, but she wasn’t ready. She held him to her, in her.

He raised his head and propped himself on an elbow. “What did we just do, Adrienne?”

“I don’t know. Maybe nothing. I just…I couldn’t let you go.”

Damp tendrils of her hair were plastered to her face, over her eyes. She tried to shake them loose but failed. Badger brushed them back for her. “Is that something you want?”

She thought of Millie and Joey, and Loki, and Gia and Bo. Of the family she was now a part of.

Shannon and Show, who had been a kind of sidelined parents as long as she’d known them but now were the only ones she had. She thought of the way the women had helped Shannon earlier. They way they always helped each other. She thought of the pull she felt, deep inside her, when she held the twins. The way their very scent made her heart cramp.

She thought of the way she loved the man inside her right now.

“Yeah. It is. Yeah. What…what do you want?”

He brought his other arm up so that he could rest on both elbows. Looming over her, his hair sheltering them from everything but each other, he smiled. “I would love for you to have our kid. Kids. As many as you want. A whole football team, if you want. But let us get through this next thing. When I come home from that, let’s do it right.”

“What do you mean? What’s right?”

“Marry me.” He dropped his head and brushed his beard over her cheek. Her eyes fluttered shut at the sweet thrill of it. “Marry me, Adrienne. Marry me.”

Her throat bound with sudden happiness, she couldn’t speak. So she nodded.

“Say the word, babe.”

She swallowed and made it happen. “Yes. I love you. Yes.”

He kissed her breathless. When he next raised his head, panting as much as she was and fully hard inside her again, he pulled out. She whined, disappointed, and tried to pull him back.

He shook his head. “Condoms until I get back.”

“What if it already happened?”

“I guess I better make sure I come back. But I’m still putting a condom on now.”



oOo



The whole Horde family had breakfast together in the Hall. Three girls cooked and served. Lilli seemed to be supervising, but not with much enthusiasm. She looked even more upset than the night before. In fact, she looked furious.

Isaac followed Lilli with his eyes wherever she went. He looked deeply unhappy. He had a bruise and cut on his right cheek Adrienne didn’t remember him having the night before. Lilli was favoring her left hand.

Tasha, too, was preoccupied and cross, and Adrienne saw her brush Len’s touch away twice. So the meal was awkward and quiet, and Adrienne was confused. The men had come home whole last night.

Shouldn’t everyone be happy this morning? She was, and now she felt guilty for it. She and Badger had fallen asleep after their second round, and they’d barely gotten up in time to make it to breakfast. They hadn’t talked. She was feeling like she’d missed something important.

After breakfast, the Horde went into the Keep. The Prospects and Nolan took the pups outside. Lilli said something to Cory and then went alone down the hallway to Isaac’s office, leaving Gia and Bo in the Hall.

The club girls cleaned up the leavings of the meal. Tasha left the clubhouse altogether, without a bodyguard.

Adrienne wondered if she should say something to her or anyone, but decided that Tasha was a fully grown woman who could go where she pleased.

Shannon was sitting on one of the couches, a sleeping twin in each arm. Adrienne went and sat at her side.

“I’m confused. I’m missing something. What happened?”

“Badge didn’t talk to you?”

Adrienne blushed. “No. We, um…we didn’t talk much last night.” Except for getting engaged, that was.

Shannon smiled. “I heard that part.”

“Oh, God.” Adrienne put her face in her hands.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Ade. I think there was a lot of that going around last night. All that worry and tension. All that loss we almost had. You need to be close after that.”

“Something bad happened, didn’t it? Even though they came home okay.”

Shannon sighed. “There’s a thing with the Horde. The men decide what their women can know. Nobody interferes in that. So there’s not much I can tell you. I think Badger will fill you in, though. It’s not something he can keep from you for long.”

“I don’t think he’d mind you telling me. I mean, you’re my mother.”

Shannon turned sharply at that, her brow furrowed. Blushing again, Adrienne dropped her eyes. “I mean, the position’s open. But I should—never mind.”

“No, Ade. I’d love for you to think of me like that. If you want. But I don’t want to step on your memory of your mom.”